Outside of the impressive victory for Luke RockHold over Lyoto Machida the big news around the MMA world had to do with a change in the upcoming Reebok Deal that will take effect in the next two months. It was first reported that the deal would pay fighters based off of their rankings but that was met very unfavorably. While there is tons of value behind the rankings most fighters could care less where they stand unless it is pushing them into title contention. Still the very vagueness on fighter pay is in the air and the only change that has taken place was announced yesterday. Multiple sources report that the new deal between the UFC and Reebok will now be based on overall fighter experience and that includes fights in other organizations that are now under the Zuffa banner.

So what does this mean? It means that the new scale will be on a five fight tier per each athlete. So in a sense outside of championship fights new fighters will not make as much as seasoned veterans and that has got to put on smile on the face of Nate Diaz. Champions will of course make more but the athletes will be broken down to a tier of 1-5, 6-10, 11-15, 16-20 and then the rare over 20 fights which we think only applies to Gleason Tibeau. There are still many answers to what the pay actually is but at least we have a clearer picture on “how” they will get paid. This was first reported by the Sports Business Journal and the deal goes into effect on July 1st. Reebok should unveiling the new uniforms in the next few weeks.

In other UFC news today the organization released a statement that they have retained former United States Solicitor General Paul Clement. This is to spearhead the appeal process on the MMA ban in the state of New York. Clement is one of the top appellate lawyers in the country and they hope they can speed up the process based off a technicality. To not get so legal about the courts would like for the UFC to file a new claim but they don’t feel it’s necessary. There is a contradiction to the decision Judge Kimba Wood and the UFC also believes the judge dropped the ball on 1st amendment laws. Clement shares that same feeling with the promotion and is excited to do his part to help reverse the decision.

“I am delighted to be representing the UFC in this important challenge to New York’s outdated and unconstitutional law,” Clement stated. “Even New York officials are confused about the scope of this hopelessly unclear law, and by targeting professional MMA matches and exhibitions, the law raises First Amendment problems of the first order,” he added.

We should here more on this soon.

Last but not least let us not forget the UFC 186 is this weekend. What will be a true test for the UFC to see how truly dedicated their fans are. It seems as if there will be a nice showing at the live event but one can’t deny the implications of the Pay Per View buys and how it may take a hit. That being said it’s a weird scenario where you would think fans would be happy to see any fights but with the over saturation of the sport these days that’s not the case. There is still plenty to be excited for on this card including the 125 title fight between Demetrious Johnson and Kyoji Horiguchi. If Kyoji is up to the challenge this could be one of the more exciting fights of the year. The prelims are stacked with great up and coming talent like Chad Laprise so if you don’t watch the ppv there are still some exciting fights to see.

Don’t forget UFC Fight Pass will be airing Friday’s Invicta FC 12 live from Kansas City so let's get ready for another great weekend of combat sports!